Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Through the first seven games of the season, Saint Mary's University special teams were among the best in the nation.

In fact, the Cardinals entered Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Bethel with the nation's fifth-ranked powerplay and the seventh-best penalty kill in the country.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, their special teams weren't so special against Bethel, as the Royals converted on 1 of 5 powerplay opportunities and added a pair of shorthanded goals en route to a 5-1 win over SMU at the SMU Ice Arena.

"It was one of those games," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team had its two-game winning streak snapped with the loss. "I don't know how to explain it, but this was the first game this season that we lost our composure a bit. Even when we were down 3-0 in the third period against UW-Superior — which was ranked No. 5 in the country at the time — we never letdown, we kept battling and outplayed them in the third period (of the 3-2 loss).

"But tonight, once we fell behind, we didn't have that fire."

The Royals got on the board late in the first period as Jeff Balvin scored the first of the Royals' two shorthanded goals, beating SMU goalie Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) high on the short side with just 1:02 remaining in the period.

The Cardinals evened the score on Adam Fingerhut's (Oak Brook, Ill.) third goal of the season, but Bethel roared right back, netting a powerplay goal off the stick of Dan Ubl two minutes later.

Dan Bonne pushed Bethel's lead to 4-1 with back-to-back goals seven minutes apart midway through the first period, and Jeff Balvin completed the scoring with a shorthanded goal from his stomach with 12 seconds left in regulation.

"You've got to tip your hat to (Bethel), defensively they did a nice job of packing people in around their goalie and keeping the shots out," said Olson, whose team had plenty of opportunities to score, generating 72 shots on goal — 27 of which were blocked by Bethel defenders. "Hopefully we can find a way to get our offense going a little better (Saturday in the teams' rematch at Bethel)."